1 John chapter 4, verse 12. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us. Why make these two statements
together? You've never seen God. I've never
seen God. If you say you have, you're either
a liar or very confused. But I know where he is. How can you know where he is
if you can't see him? Because he tells me in his word. I know
that he's on the throne, don't you? Stephen saw him there as he was
being stoned to death. He looked and beheld the son
of man standing on the right hand of the majesty on high. And I know this. He's in the hearts of his people. in a very real way now. I know
that people like to get sentimental about their departed loved ones
who have died and they say, well, he's alive in my heart. Figuratively,
that's true. We still love them. We still
think about them. We have great memories of them
that we can dwell upon and laugh and weep as is appropriate. But
no, the Lord really dwells in our hearts. It's not the same
thing. He really does. He's the very life of our heart.
The spiritual life of His people. And these two are the same, being
on the throne and being in our heart, because He rules in our
hearts. He's on the throne in here, too.
And rules there. Sin no longer has dominion over
me because Christ has dominion over all and he lives in me Think
about who this is that dwells in us This is the one that in
the context we're told loved so That he sent his son Verses
9 through 11 again And this was manifested, the love of God toward
us, because that God sent his only begotten son into the world,
that we might live through him. Herein is love. If you want to
know what love looks like. Can you see love? Yeah. It looks like God's son coming,
not just to be a martyr, Not just to be a reformer, not just
to show us the way, but to be our sin offering. Do you see
that there? And this is where religion gets confused now. He came to be the sin offering
for his people, and he either was or he wasn't. He either washed
our sins away in his blood or he didn't. He didn't try to do
anything. I guarantee you that, not God's
Son. He accomplished what he came to do, and when he did it,
he said, it's finished. He redeemed us from, he was our
sin offering, not just to show us the way, he is the way. He
is our way to God. So you see why John says what
he does in verse 12. If he dwells in you, you may
not be able to see him with your eyes of this flesh, but you know
where he is and where he isn't. And notice it says at the end
of that verse, his love is perfected in us. Does that mean that we
love perfectly? Well, we know better than that.
We can rule that one out, can't we? Relist the possibilities
of what this means? Scratch that one off. We don't
love. Our love is pathetic. Our love
is fickle and weak. That's not what it's saying.
The word here is completed. His word, his love is completed,
it is accomplished, or it is brought to an end in us. In other
words, God's love in us does what he put it there to do. And
that's what we're fixing to see in the next verses. Why has God
shed abroad his love in our hearts? And remember, that's how love
is defined. by what it does and does not
do. 1 Corinthians 13, you look at
it. Love does this, love doesn't
do that. Well, what did his love do? Think
of this. Think of it not in our hearts
for a moment. Think of his love that is his very character. The
love of Christ for his sheep. What did it do? What did his
love do? What did his love accomplish? And again, now love is defined
by what it does. What did his love do? And this
is important. Whatever it took. Whatever it
took. Everything it took. Who for? Whoever he loved. Everybody he loved. Consider
some scripture regarding this. Jeremiah 31 3 says the Lord hath
appeared of old unto me saying I Have loved thee with an everlasting
love Therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee His love is powerful God's love. He loved you if he did, if he
loves you. Now, he's saying here, he exerted
his irresistible almighty power in order to bring you to himself. That's what he said to the Pharisees.
No man can come unto me except my father which hath sent me.
Draw him. Who does he draw? Everybody he
loves. And his love did what was necessary
to redeem our souls. Verses 9 and 10 of our text.
He sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins that we might live
through him. He sent his son into this world
that we might live through him and hear in his love that God
loved us and he did what was necessary to have us. Love does what it can. Two things now this morning.
Very simple message and I pray that I won't get in the way of
it. God's word is not complicated. Love, true love, God's love does
what's necessary and what it's able to do. Now you think about that. What's
necessary and what I can do are two different
things. With God, They're distinguishable,
but everything that must be done, He can do. But there's a distinction
here for a reason. Let's think about this. Love does what it can. Remember
that woman who broke that alabaster box of ointment and anointed
our Lord's feet with it. And of course there was a You
can't do anything in this world without somebody having a problem
with it. There was an argument, oh, we shouldn't have wasted
that. Oh, you're just wasting it on him. You know, we could
have sold that and given some money to the poor. That sounds
very, you know, noble, doesn't it? Let's help the poor. Let's
hate the Lord Jesus Christ, but help the poor. That's the business
religion is in. And the Lord said, you leave
her alone. She has done what she could. And nobody, people are never
going to stop talking about it. It's recorded in his word. He
said, people are going to be, and we're here, we are talking
about it this morning, thousands of years later, what she did.
Because she did it by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, she has anointed me for my burial. Did she know that's
what she was doing? I'm not sure, but that's what
she was doing. I know this. I know why she did
it. She did it because she loved
him. All right, does God love his
people? What's necessary? What is our
need? What do we need? Perpetuation. There it is right in the text.
He sent his son to be our perpetuation because that's what we needed.
We needed a sin offering. We needed a way for our sin to
be punished and we go free. We needed a way for God to be
just and yet justify us. That's what salvation is. Redemption. Our sins paid for. That's what
a sin offering is. It's payment for sin. Could God
do anything about that? He could. And so he did. Why? Because he loved. You see, we're
talking about basic truth concerning the love of God. And if that
love is in your heart, it's gonna manifest itself as it is. If that's what his love did,
why did he send his son? Because he loved us. because
that's what was necessary and he was capable of getting it
done and he did it for us because he loved us that much. All right,
so what does his love do in you if you have the love of God shed
abroad in your heart? Well, he's already said in the
context, whatever it takes. Isn't that right? Didn't he say
we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren That's called whatever it takes.
And don't think of this as just meaning dying for them. Because
that's not just what this is now. It means to give myself
to my brother, up to and including my life for them, if that's what's
necessary. You see that? You say, oh, well,
if it came to it, you know, I would die for my... Even if it don't
come to it. Everything up to and including
that is what you would do for them. Because you love them that
much. That's the love of God now. That's
the love of God. And I guarantee you there's somebody
in this world that you love that much. If you're a believer. If I just kill myself and say
I'm doing this for you. What did that do for you? That
didn't help you. That's not love. That's insanity. That's what that is. That's some
kind of mental problem is what that is. And if God gave himself
for sinners and didn't save them, then what good is his love? You
see the very simple truth about love, what love is. If I just
kill myself for you, what good is that? If God just dies for
sinners and it doesn't save them, what good is that? That's not love. Love accomplishes
what is necessary at whatever cost is necessary. Now there
are things, as I said already, my love can't do. I can't save
those that I love. Would you if you could? I don't
know. You say you would. Well, what
we say doesn't carry a lot of weight, does it? I can't save one, but I pray
to the one who can. I sure do. When Ezekiel was asked,
can these bones live? He deferred to the only one who's
capable of making them live. Can my children be saved? People
ask me, you know, you talk about the sovereignty of God and that
God saves whom He will and passes by whom He will. And you get
some of the craziest questions. I was sitting at lunch one time
having a conversation with a friend of mine. He said, what about
that man right over there? Can he be saved? You know what Ezekiel's
answer was? He knows. Isn't that right? Can these bones live? Can those
bones live? Can those bones live right there?
Thou knowest, Lord. I tell you this, if he breathes
on them, they can. He sends his gospel and power
to them they can. They'll sure enough live. My love can't heal or save or
create anything that you need. But if God has given me something
that you need, then that's something I can do. Isn't that right? That's what this text teaches
now. You remember what James said about that? Turn to James
chapter 2 verse 15. James 2 verse 15. If a brother
or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you
say unto them, Depart in peace, Be ye warmed and filled, I sure
do want you to have what you need. Notwithstanding you give
them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth
it profit? What doth it profit? And this
now, we're talking about God's love and His love in us. Alright? It's the same love now.
It's His very spirit that dwells within us. And this is the horrible
blasphemous thing that Antichrist religion claims concerning God's
love. That he sure wants you to be
saved. He says, be ye warmed and filled. Be ye, I sure hope
you'll be saved. I want you to be saved. I've
done everything I can do to save you. But he ain't done, he ain't
solved the problem. He hadn't actually saved you.
He hadn't given you what you need. Then what good is it? That's horrible blasphemy. To
say that God loves and don't save that person is blasphemous.
Even when we do that, we're idiots. We're liars. We're hypocrites.
If we say, boy, I sure hope you have enough to eat. And we don't
give them anything to eat. We're hypocrites. Religion's
God is a hypocrite. He wants you to be saved, but
he don't save you. Do you think he has power to
save or doesn't he? He said, My hand is not shortened that
it cannot save. What's stopping Him? You know what James says about
that God? What does it profit? What good is a God that loves
you and leaves salvation up to a vile, wretched sinner that
don't know up from down or blood from white? You see the word needful there
in James 2 where we read those things which are needful. That's
what we're talking about. Love does what's necessary. Remember the two things? Necessary
and ability. What needs to be done and can
I get it done? That's the things that we're
considering in from our text. He'd give them that which is
needful. What do they need? What did I
need as a sinner? Perpetuation, sin offering. I need my sins to be paid for.
I need righteousness that'll stand up in the very presence
of God Almighty. Paul said he's able to keep you
from falling and to present you faultless. That's what I need. Can he get it done? If I need
it, and he can do it, and he don't do it, it's because he
don't love me. That's what James said. What good is it? You're
a hypocrite. Now turn to 1 John 3, just right
back from our text. Same context. 1 John 3, 17. 1 John 3, 17. But whoso hath this
world's good, and seeth his brother have need. There's necessity
again. What we need. And here's ability. You have it. You see that? You have it, they need it. And shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him. Now listen to this now. There's
a couple of lessons here. Not only what our love for our
brethren must be and is according to God's Word and will be and
should be but also what he's saying here is God's love isn't
like that. God's love doesn't see a need
that can be fulfilled and love and not meet that need. That's
what we've been talking about. His love is effectual. His love
is salvation. And so if you do that His love
doesn't dwell in you. It's evident that it doesn't.
My little children, verse 18. My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Love indeed provides what's needed. It doesn't offer it. It doesn't
make it possible. It doesn't just make it known.
The good Samaritan didn't just say there's an end down the road
if you can just... Here, let me draw you a little map. Here
you go. There's an end right down there. You'll be fine if
you can get to that end. No! Love indeed. True love provides
what's needed. What do I need? My sins washed
away. Done. Because He loved me. You see that in the text? Love does what is needful and
what it can. What it can. That's what God
did for us. And that is what we do. We do
what's needful and we do what we can. Now, our love is a little
different, but in those two principles, those two basic truths, it's
the same. Right? God did what was needful and
what he was capable of doing. That's exactly what we do. There's
just a whole lot less that we're capable of doing. But there are
things we're capable of doing. If we have, from God, this world's
good, and see somebody needing it, our brother, somebody we
love. If you have his love in you,
it's done. Because that's what his love does. We are limited, of course, in
what we can do. But we do what we can for one
another. That's His love accomplishing. That's that word perfect now
in our first verse that we're looking at. That's His love accomplishing
what He put it in us to accomplish. It brings about the end that
He ordained. That's this word perfect. His
love is perfected in us. It does what His love in us is
supposed to do. What He put it there to do. What? Provide. Give. Love indeed, and not just word. God doesn't just love in word.
He doesn't just say, I sure do love you and then stand off in
a corner and see what you're going to do about it. He did something
about it. And that's what we'll do if we
have his love in us. Is that clear here? What does
his love in us do? Here's another thing. Look at
1 John 2, 5. In the same context now. We have this same phrase, the
love of God is perfected in you. If what? Well, we saw in our
text, if you love like he loves. Love like he loves. Do whatever
is necessary that you're capable of doing. All right? But whoso
keepeth his word in him, barely is the love of God perfected.
Hereby we know that we are in him. Again, we refer to James. You
remember what he said about that? Be doers of the word and not
hearers only. If you're just a hearer of the
word and not a doer, you're like a man that beholds his face in
a glass and then goes away and then forgets what he looked like.
You gotta look again. The word is not in you. You don't have
a present reality. David said, Lord, hide
your word in my heart. That I might not sin against
you. I don't want to dishonor you. How's that going to happen?
That covenant promise of God. The Word of God is not just going
to be words on paper to you. I'm going to write it on your
heart. And you'll never be the same. If that's true, you know
you're His. Are you a doer of the Word? Do
you keep His Word? Not perfectly. Not for righteousness.
But we obey the gospel. We flee to Christ. We trust Christ
alone. We follow Christ. We bow to Christ. We preach Christ. We hear Christ.
And by His grace, we love Him. All right, verse 13. Hereby know
we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given
us of His Spirit. Okay, now think about this with
me. If you have His Spirit, you're His. You belong to Him. You're His child. You're an object
of His love. You're saved. You're a believer.
You're one of the elect. Paul wrote in Romans 8 and 9,
If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. So John says if you have His
Spirit, it's because He dwells in you and you're His. You belong
to Him. And Paul says the opposite here.
If you don't have the Spirit, you're not His. You're not one
of His sheep. So, think with me. You know that
you're His by the presence of His Spirit in you. But how do
you know His Spirit is in you? The fruit of the Spirit is what?
What we've been talking about all along. His love. The fruit of God's Spirit is
God's love. That's what we've been talking
about. Do you love like He does in deed and in truth? Do you
do what is necessary and what you can for those that you love? He said, by this shall all men know
that you are my disciples. Because that kind of love is
conspicuous. That kind of love can't be hidden. And what also is the fruit of
the Spirit? Well, there's a bunch of them in there. But here's
one right here in our text. Faith. That's from Galatians 5.22, by
the way. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness. Faith. Love and faith. We've been talking
about love, but why are you mentioning faith, Chris? Look at the next
three verses. In our text, verse John 4. And we have seen, verse 14, and
we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be
the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. We love and we believe. That's how we know His Spirit's
in us, because we don't do that by nature. You're not born like
that, and you don't just come up with it. If you're able to
say, like that man, oh, Lord, I believe. Don't you? Do you? Do you believe? Help my unbelief, Lord. We know and believe what he said
here, that God sent his son into the world and that he did what
was necessary. He did what he could. And what
he could do was save me to the uttermost. That's what he was
able to do. And that's what he did. You see
what love is? You see that word Savior? In
our text. Savior. To be the Savior now. We needed Savior. That's what
was necessary. Is he able to save? Daniel, can
your God, is he able to save you from the lion's den? Oh. Oh King. By God's able. How about you? Savior. We needed saving. Not
a leg up. Not an opportunity. We needed
saving. Not a choice. We needed to be saved. You know
the difference, right? Do you know what it is to be
saved? Saved now. Not a chance. Not an opportunity,
saved. Saved means it's too late for
an opportunity. I've had my opportunity. I'm
a goner. I need to be saved. The good
Samaritan, he picked that bleeding, dying man up out of the ditch
and put him on his mule and carried him to an inn and paid his way
and said, if he runs up a tab, I'll pay that too. That's called
being saved right there. That little girl in Mark chapter
5 was dead and gone. They were already mourning her.
Look at Mark 5. Turn over there with me. Let's
look at Mark 5. This is such a beautiful... This is my testimony,
my friends. Mark chapter 5, verse 21. This
is me. Verse 21. And when Jesus was passed over again by ship
unto the other side. Much people gathered unto him,
and he was nigh unto the sea. And behold, there cometh one
of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And when he saw
him, he fell at his feet and besought him greatly, saying,
My little daughter lieth at the point of death. I pray thee,
come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed and she
shall live. He believed, didn't he? If he
wants to, if he loves her, if he cares,
he's able to save her. And Jesus went with him and much
people followed him and thronged him. And then there's the story
of that certain woman that came in the throng and touched him,
okay? And then we're going to skip down and look at Verse 35, while he yet spake,
he was speaking to that woman that came and touched him. He
said, thy faith hath made thee whole. In verse 35, while he
yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house,
certain which said, thy daughter's dead. Why troublest thou the
master any further? They didn't much believe, did
they? Not yet anyway. They may have one before this
was over with. It's too late. Too late. The Lord can't do anything
about that. Maybe he would have been able
to heal it, but now it's too late. There's nothing he can
do. As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, verse 36,
he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, he's speaking to the
one that believes in him now, believes on him, don't you be
afraid now. Don't you be afraid. It don't
look good, but don't be afraid. It don't look good to them. Only believe. Don't reason. Don't think, well, I've never
seen. Only believe. And he suffered no man to follow
him, say Peter and James and John, the brother of James. And
he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeeth
the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly." Now this
is my testimony. This is what it means to be saved. You know
what it means to be saved? It's too late. When it's too
late for you, all of your chances and opportunities are over. It's
too late. Too late. And when he was come in, he saith
unto them, what make you this ado? And weep, the damsel's not
dead, but sleepeth. And they left him to scorn. But when he had put them all
out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and
them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel
was laying. And he took the damsel by the
hand, and said unto her, Talitha kumar Which is being interpreted
damsel I say into thee arise Salvation is not complicated
You see this is what I needed. I Didn't need an opportunity.
I didn't need to make a decision. I needed life It was too late
for me. I Didn't need to try Jesus I I
needed the Son of God to come where I was and say, live. And straightway the damsel arose
and walked. For she was of the age of twelve
years, and they were astonished with a great astonishment. And
he charged them straightly that no man should know it, and commanded
that something should be given her to eat. Isn't that beautiful? He gave me life from the dead.
And he makes sure now every day that I have something to eat.
Not physical food only. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The
Lord said of his own person, my flesh, the Son of God in human
flesh is meat indeed. And my precious blood, my sin
atoning blood, my redeeming love for sinners is drink indeed.
Give them something to eat. Do you believe that he's able? And that he will do what he can.
And that he can do. What is necessary? He asked those blind men in Matthew
928 For two blind men, he said, do you believe that I'm able
to do this? And they said, yea, Lord, we
believe. They needed their sight. So do you. You need righteousness. You need
your sins put away. You need holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. You need to be born again in
the Spirit. You need, in a word, to be saved. Believe ye that
Christ is able to do this. Or is he too worried about, you
know, violating your free will? Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know whom I have believed. That's verse 15 of our text.
We believe. What we know, what we know is
of whom I know whom I have believed. We religious people know a lot
of things, but do you know whom? And am persuaded that he is able. This is what we've been talking
about. I know that God loves me. And this is what's important
now. Look at verse 16. Back to 1 John. I'm still in
Mark. 1 John 4, 16. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Here's the question. This is really not about God
loving everybody, which, by the way, He clearly don't, from the
Word of God. What this is about is does God
love you? Does He love you? Does He love
me? That's the question. If he does, then he did what
he could for you. He did all that he could for
you. And I'm not talking about God's done all he can do and
now it's up to you. I'm talking about God's done all he can do
and now there ain't anything else up to anybody. Because it's
all done. He saved you in every sense of
the word and that's how you know. He said we know he loves us because
just look at us. Just look what he did. His spirit dwells in me. And the
fruit of that spirit is love and faith. I believe. Bless God,
I believe. And he knows that I love him. He knows how pitiful my love
is, too. But he knows, like Peter said, that I love him. And we love and we know. We love
and we believe. Why? Because he loves us and
knows us. We love him because he first
loved us. And we know him because he said,
I have from the beginning known you. Isn't it good? Isn't it good to be loved? I'm thankful to the Lord for
those of you who love me. Our Lord has said that if we
show a kindness to the least of one of these his brethren,
we've done it unto him. And when one of you shows me
a kindness, who is that showing me a kindness but my Savior which
dwelleth in you? That's why it means so much. The love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus, our Lord. The love of God for us. His love, David said, His mercy
and His goodness pursue me every day of my life. Because He loves
me so much. He has set His goodness and mercy
upon me. And I can't get away from them. It's good to be loved. Let's
pray.